The Reverse of a Framed Painting
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Illustration: Reverse Side of a Painting (1670) by Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts
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Reverse Side Of a Painting[1] (1670) is an oil on canvas by Flemish painter Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts, currently in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark. The recto side of the painting depicts the verso side of an oil on canvas.
Gysbrechts painted an inner frame and outer frame, upon which the canvas is mounted, little nails fixing the inner frame to the outer frame and a small piece of paper with the inventory number "36". The painting itself is unframed, its back is the usual back of an oil painting: Gysbrecht's picture is the only picture of the world with two backs, so to speak.
This 17th century painting goes well beyond the trompe l'oeil aesthetic it is usually assigned to. Victor Stoichita considers it the birth of painting consciousness. Others as a part of proto-surrealism.
See also
- Still Life of the Back of a Painting with a Hebrew Bookplate (1766) by E. Hiernault
- Double-sided painting
- Monochrome painting
- Painting consciousness
- Picture frame
- Proto-Surrealism
- Trompe l'oeil
- 17th century painting